Most FMLA mistakes are process mistakes. A supervisor hears "my mother is in the hospital" and does not tell HR. An eligibility notice goes out on day nine. A certification comes back half blank and the leave is denied without a chance to fix it. None of these turns on a hard legal question. Each one is a step that was skipped.
This article sets out the FMLA requirements for employers in the order you meet them in a real case, from coverage to recordkeeping. Each
Job restructuring is expressly listed in the ADA as a form of reasonable accommodation. It means changing how, when, or in what order a job is performed, or reallocating parts of it — and its limits turn entirely on the distinction between essential and marginal functions.
Essential Versus Marginal Functions
An essential function is a fundamental duty of the position. A marginal function is peripheral — something the role includes but which
...Garnishment calculation errors are costly in both directions. Withhold too little and the employer can become liable for the shortfall; withhold too much and you have an unlawful deduction claim. The calculation itself is mechanical — the difficulty is knowing which rules apply to which order.
Step 1: Calculate Disposable Earnings
Garnishment limits apply to disposable earnings, not gross pay and not net pay as an employee understands it.
Disposable
...COBRA billing looks like an accounts-receivable task and is really a compliance task. The amount you may charge, when payment is due, what counts as timely, and how you handle a shortfall are all governed by rules — and getting any of them wrong turns a routine termination of coverage into a claim.
What You May Charge
Plans may generally charge qualified beneficiaries up to 102 percent of the applicable premium — the full cost of coverage plus a 2 percent
...An employer or plan can end COBRA coverage early, before the 18-, 29- or 36-month maximum, only for a reason the law allows. The reasons are: a premium is not paid in full within the grace period, the employer stops maintaining any group health plan, the qualified beneficiary becomes covered under another group health plan or entitled to Medicare after electing COBRA, a disability extension ends because Social Security finds the person is no longer disabled, or the beneficiary is terminated ...
A forfeiture arises when a participant leaves before becoming fully vested in employer contributions. The unvested portion is forfeited from their account — and what happens next is governed by the plan document and by timing rules that plans breach routinely, usually by doing nothing.
When a Forfeiture Occurs
The plan document specifies the triggering point. Common approaches are forfeiture on distribution of the vested balance, or forfeiture after the participant incurs a
...When the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) opens an investigation, payroll should notify management and counsel immediately, confirm the scope of the investigation, gather the requested records accurately, cooperate courteously, and provide what is requested — not more. Investigators review payroll and time records, interview employees, and meet with the employer at the end to explain any violations and back wages found. Preparation and accurate records decide most ...
Reasonable accommodation is defined by function, not by a list. An accommodation is reasonable if it enables a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of their job, or to enjoy equal terms and privileges of employment, without imposing undue hardship.
Examples are still useful, because employers frequently cannot picture what an accommodation looks like. These are grouped by the barrier they address.
Changes to the Physical
...An employer may require a fitness-for-duty certification before restoring an employee whose FMLA leave was for the employee's own serious health condition, but only under a uniformly applied policy for similarly situated employees, and only if it said so in the designation notice. The certification can address only the condition that caused the leave. It may be required to address the employee's ability to perform the job's essential functions if the employer supplied a list of those ...
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. Its treatment of essential job functions is where it departs most sharply from the ADA — and where employers applying ADA reasoning get it wrong.
The Key Difference From the ADA
Under the ADA, an individual must be able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable
...COBRA obliges covered employers to offer continuation of group health coverage after certain events. The statute is not conceptually difficult; the risk lies almost entirely in notice obligations and deadlines, which are precise and strictly enforced.
Which Employers Are Covered
COBRA generally applies to group health plans maintained by employers with 20 or more employees on more than 50 percent of typical business days in the preceding calendar year. Both full and
...During FMLA leave, an employer must keep the employee's group health plan coverage in place on the same terms as if the employee had continued working, and the employee remains responsible for their usual share of the premium. On return, the employee is entitled to the same or an equivalent job and to have benefits restored without having to requalify. Benefits other than group health coverage follow the employer's rules for other types of leave.
The restoration rules themselves are ...
FMLA eligibility turns on three separate tests. An employee must satisfy all three, and each is measured in a specific way that is easy to apply loosely. Getting eligibility wrong in either direction creates exposure — denying leave to an eligible employee is interference, and granting FMLA-designated leave to an ineligible one can create entitlements the employer did not intend.
Test 1: Twelve Months of Employment
The employee must have been employed by the employer for at
...An employee returning from FMLA leave is entitled to the same or an equivalent job, but that right has defined exceptions. Restoration is not required when the job would have ended anyway (a layoff, a completed project or term), when a qualifying key employee's restoration would cause substantial and grievous economic injury, when the employee cannot perform an essential function of the job, when leave was obtained by fraud, or when the employee breaches a uniformly applied ...
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep payroll records for at least three years and supplementary records — timecards, wage-rate tables, work schedules and records of additions to or deductions from wages — for at least two years. The records must be accurate, cover specific data for each non-exempt employee, and be available for inspection by the Department of Labor. No particular format or timekeeping system is required.
Who the Rules Apply To
Every
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